At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we invited Siddhesh Narvekar for an exclusive interview with us. Siddhesh is an Entrepreneur, Leader and CEO of Avataryug. Let’s learn more about his incredible journey, his background, and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Siddhesh:
Could you please talk to us about your background and journey?
During my childhood in Mumbai, I had a thirst for knowledge that led me to become an academic achiever throughout my school and college years. Being raised in a bustling, modern city, I gradually developed a passion for technology and gaming, which has since grown into a deep interest.
It was this passion that led me to pursue a degree in engineering at VJTI in Mumbai. With this strong educational foundation, my passion brewed more through ease. Because of my understanding that paced along with the knowledge that I gained throughout my Academics.
Talking about my journey, today I am a Founder and CEO of Avataryug, a startup focused on making digital experiences like apps, games engaged, safer and more enjoyable using Avatars. I started my startup journey back in 2007 by founding Wapcart, it was one of the few marketplaces that worked as a one-stop destination for all mobile users trying to find wallpaper, games, and apps that’s even before the iPhone, Android era when there were Nokia phones.
After that, I am grateful to be able to lead the mobile advertising platform Tapmyads which became a huge hit serving more than 5000+ app and game developers across the globe.
Looking at today, I am on another mission which is to help people to have an identity on the digital experiences, how people represent themselves in a digital world and help businesses to understand these customers’ persona, traits, behaviours and serve them better.
How did you discover your passion?
I discovered my passion for Avataryug through a blend of my lifelong fascination with technology and my innate creativity. From a young age, I was drawn to the world of computer games and digital art, often spending hours experimenting with different software and techniques. As I honed my skills, I found myself captivated by the potential of creating lifelike avatars that could convey emotions, tell stories, and engage with users in unique ways.
My journey towards founding an Avatar company was gradual but inevitable. Along the way, I explored various industries, including gaming, and advertising, gaining valuable insights and experiences that ultimately shaped my vision. It was through this exploration that I realized the immense potential of avatars not only as entertainment but also as powerful tools for communication, education, and self-expression.
Today, I’m passionate about pushing the boundaries of Avatar technology, leveraging the latest advancements in AI, graphics, and user interface design to create truly immersive and interactive experiences. For me, Avatar creation is more than just a platform – it’s a calling that allows me to combine my love for technology with my desire to empower people to connect, communicate, and express themselves in entirely new ways.
Tell us something about your current startup, The Avataryug- what is it and how it came into existence?
Avataryug is a blending of two Sanskrit words. Avatar which literacy means is appearance or representation, and Yug means an era. So, when we combine two words it becomes Avataryug. It represents PERSONA, a fusion of our physical life and our digital life. It’s not just how we look in a virtual space, But it’s about how we define our personality in a digital space.
Initially, we started as a gaming studio, focused on creating fun experiences for players. As we developed games, we had this big idea: what if we could create a whole new virtual world where players could gather and have a blast together? But as we worked on it, we realized that our vision was limited by the current technology. We couldn’t scale it up beyond what was possible with the technology available.
Then we thought, what’s the piece of the puzzle that is missing. An Avatar – Digital Persona. That’s when we put our Metaverse project under the shelf and shifted our focus to the Avatar Platform. We wanted to build a platform where people could express themselves who they are and who they want to be. We saw avatars as a crucial part of what we now call a metaverse—a virtual space where people can interact and have adventures. This was all the way before big companies like Facebook even started talking about the metaverse.
So, the unique thing about Avatars is that they can be used in any industry whether in direct or indirect form. Their versatility makes it an asset across a wide range of industries.Like in gaming, it offers immersive digital experiences that enhance gameplay and foster engagement.
In entertainment, they enable personalized interactions for content creators and fans, whether through virtual concerts or interactive storytelling experiences. E-commerce businesses can leverage avatars to provide virtual try-on experiences, personalized shopping assistants, and interactive product showcases. Social media platforms can use Avatars to offer customizable digital personas for their users, fostering deeper connections and increasing engagement.
Despite the challenges, what keeps you going when things get tough?
Always have a plan, even though you never know what the future will unfold, you can always plan for it, make your own pattern and then go with the flow.
I understand many of us fear falling and lacking but these are spaces that give us opportunities to develop ourselves. There are no challenges, all I see is chances to become better.
This mindset is what got me this far from when I started to till now, and I am confident to say that this is how it’s going to be in the future.
What are the three most important lessons you have learned in your life?
I have learned lots of lessons through life and am still learning. But the following are the ones I believe are the most important ones.
> Being successful is all about rolling with the punches and being a problem solver. It comes from boxing. If someone punches you, then you should “roll” away from it to lessen the power. Things don’t always go as planned so you need to be able to adapt.
> When it comes to goals and dreams – your inner wisdom is a genius. Your instincts are there to guide you. You need to learn to bet on them
> Happiness doesn’t depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think.
In your opinion what is success and what are the keys to success?
For me, Success in my life is not defined by money and fame but instead, by creations that are put out there is have a profound impact on people’s lives. When I talk with our customers, they tell me how our product makes their customers happy, how they forget the worries of their life and enjoy the experiences there are into using avatars. This is what success is to me.
I have given a lot of thoughts on what brought me here where I am today. They all lead to one thing and one thing only. It’s perseverance…showing up every day no matter what.
I always loved following Steve Jobs’s quote – ” I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you’re not going to survive. You’re going to give it up.
So, you’ve got to have an idea, or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you’re passionate about; otherwise, you’re not going to have the perseverance to stick it through.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
Be consistent, trust your passion, always remember being successful is a status, and be able to devote every day of your life to doing what you love, what makes you happy. You have to believe in your dream that no one can see but you.
As you grow along, you will make mistakes but embrace them, learn from them, and move on. We cannot change what happened in the past so there is no point in thinking about it, we should always be looking forward.
Always follow your intuition. Believe it, your heart knows what’s best for you but be realistic as well.
Finally, what about your journey that makes it satisfying/exciting?
Today’s digital world we are experiencing is two-dimensional, apps we use on mobile phones, games we play on desktops, movies we watch on TV, and so on. Technology has come a long way. We are still in the early three-dimensional experiences of AR, and VR like mainframes in the 70’s, and mobile phones in the early 2000s.
But pace we are going with advancements in AI and semiconductor technology, the scalable future of three-dimensional experiences is far sooner than we think. I am happy that the foundational stones we are putting at Avataryug for this technology to thrive, solving challenges day by day and taking the race forward.
Personally, throughout my startup journey, I have been fortunate enough to ride a wave of the right technology at the right time. And now I can’t wait to see how the future unfolds in the world of digital life 🙂
You never know when you will find the next Haley’s comet and being in this relentless innovative journey gave me my peace.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
